>> pelley: tonight, celebrating mandela. south africans pay tribute to the father of their country as the government announces plans for his services. a delegation of u.s. presidents will attend. reports from deborah patta, mark phillips, and michelle miller. anthony mason on the best jobs report since the great recession. but what kind of jobs is the economy creating? an ice storm causes havoc in the middle of the country. manuel bojorquez is there. and allen pizzey on the years that made the man. >> for 18 of the 27 years he spent in prison, nelson mandela walked down this corridor everyday and at the end of that

walk there was no freedom, there was this. >> reporter: with bob simon on the moment he was free. >> after 27 years, his head was high and his fist was clenched. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. the south african government announced today that the state funeral for former president nelson mandela will be a week from sunday-- the culmination of days of memorial services. president obama will lead the u.s. delegation and he's invited the former american presidents to join him. mourners continued to gather today at mandela's home in johannrg died last night and at his former home in soweto. and for us, no one image captured his legacy better than this-- blacks and whites side by side honoring the father of a

multiracial south africa. a man who became a worldwide symbol for racial equality. deborah patta is there. >> reporter: the streets of south africa were a riot of color, an explosion of song and dance today. from the sprawling township of soweto to the plush upmarket suburb of hall on the, it was precisely the kind of sendoff nelson mandela would have loved. since his death was announced, south africans from all over the country have been making a pilgrimage to mandela's home in johannesburg. they came bearing flowers, gifts, and messages of support. and if they had nothing to give, they shared their talents instead. for some, it was overwhelming. >> if we can do a little bit of what he did everyday, we'll live a very different world. the first time i voted was '94 so it's a great day.

>> reporter: but mostly there were tears of joy. an impromptu celebration with people of every color honoring the legacy of a leader like no other. >> look at it here. if there ever was a center of the universe it would be right here right now at the death of nelson mandela. >> i am not mourning. i am celebrating what his life sacrificed and i've come to thank god for his life to say thank you. because he has united us. >> reporter: if his life's mission was to unite a racially divided country, it was his death that revealed how successful he'd been. >> pelley: deborah patta joins us now front of mandela's home in johannesburg. deborah, what are the plans going forward? >> reporter: an unprecedented period of mourning, scott, ten days in all. part of which includes nelson mandela's body lying in state for official public viewing. there will be a massive memorial service at a soccer stadium in soweto, and culminating in a

private family funeral and burial and that's on the 15th of december. >> pelley: deborah patta in south africa. deborah, thank you very much. well, nelson mandela belonged to the world and today the world remembered. the flag atop the white house flew at half-staff. the new york stock exchange fell silent before the opening bell. and in india school children lit candles and said prayers. mark phillips has more on why mandela is so revered throughout the world. >> thank you! >> reporter: as much as the years could diminish nelson mandela's body and perhaps in the latter stages of his life his mind, they couldn't diminish the man. >> for us to continue talking peace and nonviolence. >> reporter: there aren't many politicians-- especially ones engaged in battles as bitter and complex as the ones he fought-- who left such a clean battlefield. >> africa! >> reporter: mohammed valli

moosa was one of mandela's trusted lieutenants. >> what's so remarkable is that nelson mandela is now everybody's hero. everybody loves him, blacks and whites. everybody loves. him >> reporter: nelson mandela's story was south africa's story. >> i greet you all in the name of peace. >> reporter: but his special talent was to do the apparently impossible-- to offer the hope of democracy to oppressed black majority while at the same time managing the fear of change in the until-then all-powerful white minority. it was a balancing act that columnists like pinky khoabane say only mandela could manage. >> people see him completely above the politics of the day. >> reporter: of his day and the current day. >> of his day and the current day. i mean, they see no fault. >> reporter: the promise of the new south africa has not always been fulfilled. democracy has not brought

prosperity-- far from it. nelson mandela is revered for more than simply being the father of the new south africa, he represents a simpler time when the distinctions between the rights and the wrongs were more clearly defined. after two decades of democracy here, things are a lot murkier now. south africa's current leadership under president jacob zuma is wallowing in a storm o allegations of corruption and mismanagement. >> we've been very saddened by the deaths of all these stalwarts. >> reporter: of his generation? >> yes, of his generation. and every time they go we have this deep sense of sadness and loss because they are in a different mold. we don't see this crass materialism that we see today. >> reporter: south africa will be burying more than a man, it will be burying some of its dreams. mark phillips, cbs news, johannesburg. >> pelley: perhaps the most dramatic moment in the life of nelson mandela was his emergence

from prison in 1990 after more than a quarter of a century out of public view. bob simon was there that day and this is how he reported it. >> reporter: after 27 years, his head was high and his fist was clenched. nelson mandela walked out of the prison today like a chief of state, flanked by his first lady and by the men who'd been hired to protect him. there they were, the south african state police, providing security for the man who'd once been the most wanted man in africa. >> reporter: i was a young correspondent at cbs and i remember admiring that piece enormously. bob simon is joining us tonight. bob, what do you remember about that first moment when you saw a free nelson mandela? >> the remarkable thing was, nobody had seen or heard a word from him in 27 years so we didn't know if we were seeing a dotterring old man broken by the apartheid regime. we didn't know even though he'd negotiated with the regime whether he'd go free and say to

his a.n.c. buddies "okay, let's get them" and create rivers of blood. or whether he was there to lead the nation. and we didn't know for 24 hours. that night he gave a long, rambling boring speech and we were worried the next morning he gave a news conference and he called on reporters from the pro-apartheid papers, he treated them like friends and he was eloquent and funny and gracious and i thought "maybe he can do it." >> pelley: was there any single experience that you had in all the experiences you had in south africa that gave you a real measure of the man? >> yes, and it had nothing to do with him. i went to the island, robben island, several times and once i just went and stood on this barren rock and you could see cape town. you could see cape town from there. and i recommend to anyone who wants to get a measure of the man to just stand on that rock for a couple of hours and then try to imagine what it would be

like being there for 27 years. and then try to imagine what it would be like getting out of there after 27 years and not wanting to murder the people who sent you there. that's the measure of nelson mandela. >> pelley: bob simon, "60 minutes" correspondent. you'll have a piece on mandela on "60 minutes" this sunday. bob, thanks for joining us tonight. and there's another important story tonight. we got the best jobs report in five years. the unemployment rate fell three tenths of a point last month to 7%. the economy created 203,000 jobs. that news helped wall street snap a five-session losing streak. the dow finished the day with a gain of nearly 200 points. here's anthony mason. >> reporter: in a warehouse in louisville, kentucky, this week, bob marie know addressed his employees, many of them new seasonal hires. >> look at the jobs we've created, look at the faces we have here.

>> reporter: marie know is c.e.o. of cafe press, a company that makes custom goods like mugs, t-shirts and clocks. with business growing, he's needed to increase his seasonal work force by as much as 20%. >> this year we're gonna be hiring 700 to 800 folks and that augment it is crew of about 450 that we have here year round. >> reporter: for three of the last four months now, employers across the country have hired at least 200,000 workers. at the meeting, marie kno maried his holiday work force if they wanted job. >> i mean, not just a seasonal job, a full-time job. yeah, i thought so, it's like that every year. >> reporter: 29-year-old matthew daugherty was one of those who put up his hand. laid off from his welding job, he's printing t-shirts over the holidays. >> as a welder i get laid off quite often. here they stay pretty busy i'm looking to get hired on. >> reporter: if hiring continues at its current pace

nationally, employment could finally climb back to its prerecession levels by next summer. but marino says the effects of the recession still linger. >> i think everybody's waiting to get it in the rear-view mirror and march forward and turn the american economy back to what it should be. >> reporter: you mentioned that wall street rally, scott. investors are hoping the economy is now strong enough to withstand a scaling back of the federal reserve stimulus which is expected within the next few months. >> pelley: it's been such a long time. >> sure has. >> pelley: anthony, thank you very much. tonight one of the worst ice storms in years stretches from texas to pennsylvania. it's blamed for at least three deaths. more than 300,000 homes and businesses have lost power in dallas alone. manuel bojorquez is there. >> reporter: it was an uphill battle all day. onramps became as slippery as bobsled runs. and parking lots became ice rinks. 30 cars became stranded on this

overpass in austin. even first responders needed to be rescued. many more were stuck at the airport with 1,000 flights canceled in and out of dallas. utility crews in texas and arkansas tried to knock heavy ice off power lines before they snapped from the weight. the ice is also weighing down trees. this oak fell on christina goodman's home in the middle of the night. >> we literally sleep right there so if had been a few feet over we maybe would all be at the emergency room right now. >> reporter: this storm is blamed for at least one death in oklahoma and parts of arkansas could see temperatures drop to zero. that's balmy compared to the snow-swept northern plains. the arctic mass sitting over the midwest made it feel like 20 below in duluth, minnesota. the air so cold steam lifted from lake superior. the icy mix that caused so much trouble here has moved into tennessee. scott, the storm is expected to

bring freezing rain and snow in a band stretching from the ohio river valley to new england. >> pelley: amazing pictures from the lake. manuel, thanks very much. a train wreck has led to an emergency safety order. we have an update on the whales that got stranded in the everglades. and nelson mandela might have spent his entire life in prison if not for american protesters. those stories when the "cbs evening news" continues. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can.

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we had a great spot, not easy to find, but worth it. >> pelley: nelson mandela was famous, but it wasn't always that way. and therein lies the story told tonight by michelle miller. >> reporter: in 1984, most americans had never heard of nelson mandela. >> the south african government has not responded to our demands favorably. >> reporter: political activists randall robinson was on a mission to change that. >> the strategy was to find ways to dramatize the relationship between the west and the south african apartheid system. we were the legs on which it's standing. >> reporter: robinson staged a it is if in with congressman walter font ro on the troy fauns berry. they told the ambassador they would not leave until their demands were met. >> first was the immediate release of nelson mandela from prison and second the demand was

that all other black political prisoners be released and thirdly that they begin immediately the dismantlement of the apartheid system. >> reporter: al three were jailed. that one act of civil disobedience led to a year of daily protests at the embassy where celebrities, members of congress and citizens were also arrested. >> we put 5,000 people in jail at the embassy and that drove the headlines. >> free south africa! >> reporter: the movement pressured politicians to act. >> on this vote -- >> reporter: and in 1986, congress overroad president reagan's veto and imposed trade sanctions against south africa. u.s. businesses were forced to divest, costing the regime over $350 million that year alone. four years later, mandela was free. >> nelson mandela taking his first steps into a new south africa. >> reporter: robinson says mandela's public persona was the

same as his private one. he saw that firsthand when a hotel housekeeper accidentally walked in to a meeting. >> the moment that she walked into the room he stood up because a gentleman stands when a lady comes into the room. his sense of courtesy, it was genuine, it was a private moment, never to be seen or remarked publicly. it told me something about the man. >> reporter: a man whose respect for each individual taught us so much about dignity and justice for all. michelle miller, cbs news, boston. >> pelley: back with more news in a moment. a mouth breather! how do you sleep like that? you dry up, your cold feels even worse. well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth. cold medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip, and pow!

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>> pelley: earlier in the broadcast, bob simon told us about mandela's release after 27 years as a political prisoner. he spent most of those years on robben island, northwest of cape town. the conditions there would have broken most men, but in many ways they made nelson mandela. here's allen pizzey. >> reporter: when the apartheid regime shipped nelson mandela to this bleak wind-swept island they thought he and his fellow black resistance leaders

would quickly be forgotten. eddie daniels arrived here alone, chained, and terrified to serve 15 years for -r sabotage. >> initially it was very bad. it was 24 hour silence and all we had in our cells was a mat, one mat, we had three blankets, very thin, and dirty. and it was cold, cold, cold. we slept with all our clothes on. >> reporter: on eddie daniels' third day he had an encounter that changed his life. >> i saw this big man standing in front of me and i looked up and saw it was nelson mandela i said "good afternoon, mr. mandela." he said "the name is nelson. welcome." so we became friends. >> reporter: for 18 of the 27 years he spent in prison, nelson mandela walked down this corridor everyday and at the end of this walk there was no freedom, there was this. an eight foot square cell with a

mattress on the floor for his bed and a bucket for a toilet. mandela was allowed one visitor a year for half an hour. mandela and daniels were among 30 political prisoners isolated in what was simply called "b" block. >> we sat on the brick. >> reporter: mandela and his fellow inmates worked long days in the yard sitting on bricks ordered only to look straight ahead they smashed slate into gravel with hammers. black inmates worert in all weather. the apartheid regime's way of reminding them that all black men were considered boys no maer what their age. the yard is now just another stop on the robben island tourist route. but no visitor can imagine what it meant to eddie daniels when his jailors allowed the "b" block prisoners in the yard one night after six years being locked in by sun set. >> i looked up and there were the stars. big and beautiful. i felt i could touch them. it was tremendous. tremendous. >> reporter: in 1990, after 27

brutal years of incarceration, nelson mandela walked out of jail and called for reconciliation not revenge and when on to transform the aoeu apartheid regime into what came to be called the rainbow nation. as for the place that will forever be linked with nelson mandela -- >> and the symbolic meaning of the island changed. no longer fear or pain but a place symbolizing freedom, symbolizing respect for your fellow human beings. today robben island is that symbol. >> reporter: allen pizzey, cbs news, robben island. >> pelley: that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. there will be more about nelson mandela on a cbs news special, nelson mandela: father of a nation. that's tomorrow night at 9:00, 8:00 central time. i'll see you then and i'll see you again. question leave you now with the.

captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org as of tonight we now know the schedule of official events celebrating the life and mourning the passing of nelson mandela. >> more on that in a moment, but first topper is tracking this storm system that threats to give us our -- threatens to give us our first taste of winter weather. >> right now it's producing rain for us and snow out toward ohio and pennsylvania. it will move slowly south and east. this storm clears us tonight. then a second storm comes and get us over the weekend. we'll zoom in. we've got snow and a mix towards pittsburgh but all for rain for us, a little bit of a

mix occurring west of the divide toward garrett county, but for us this is the latest image, just rain keeping the roads wet this friday night. the good news is we won't see freezing temperatures tone. windstorm watch goes into effect sunday and sunday night for pretty much the entire metro area with the exception of st. mary's and calvert county primarily for sleet and freezing rain. please be careful walking when you get your sunday paper. ice will accumulate on trees and power lines. check your flashlight batteries, critical time 9 a.m. sunday. so some of you will have to deal with a little snow on your way to church, 9 a.m. sunday until 3 a.m. on monday we stay below freezing. temps right now chilly but safe, above freezing. 41 gaithersburg, 43 manassas, leesburg and 45 downtown. we'll dom back, talk mo